Spark eluded

This is one of those times when I chafe against my lack of perception about how to unfailingly capture the spark. This portrait is based on a photo of my friend Claudia's Aunt Anna, who is a beautiful woman with attitude. I captured the likeness pretty well, although I didn't quite get right the angle of the face and the chin tilt; I know it's a well done portrait, and she still looks beautiful, even regal; but I feel like the portrait is completely lacking in that intangible something that makes her Anna—a spirited attitude that speaks out of her eyes and says simultaneously, I know I am beautiful and, What's it to you?

The difficulty begins with the eyes, and this is a problem that I am solving more often lately but still haven't mastered: How do you make your subject look at you? In her photo she is staring right at the photographer, and that's part of the attitude of daring that comes across so forcefully there and not at all here, where despite every effort I made, she is staring off into the distance instead of looking at the viewer. It's so frustrating that I find myself yelling at the portrait, "Look at me! Over here!" as I move the highlights, elongate the pupil, change the shape of the eye, all to no avail. She just ain't gonna do it.

So, while some might see this as an accomplished portrait, I am made aware, once again, of how far I still have to go to master this discipline.

Or, I could simply draw and paint more abstractly and not worry about it; but that's a question for another day!

"Aunt Anna 1"—graphite and carbothello in Bee mixed media sketchbook, 9x12 inches.